Lundgaard feels “more natural pace” with Arrow McLaren in hybrid test

The former Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver spent time getting acquainted with his new car and team while taking his first laps in papaya and black last Friday in Indianapolis

Christian Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren were finally able to get some quality time together at the IndyCar Series testing last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For Lundgaard, the track day was more focused on the team-building experience — getting acclimated to the crew and organization, rather than trying to make record lap times.

“It was a little bit of a mix from a run plan standpoint of view,” Lundgaard told Motorsport.com. “It was good to understand how they’re working as a team and for us to work together on the No. 7 car and get used to each other. Obviously, get some more information for the month of May. So, it was a good start, but it’s difficult, man. It’s difficult when you only know one thing and suddenly you’re here working in a completely different way as you’re used to. But again, change is good.”

The 23-year-old Dane, with one career IndyCar win (Toronto, 2022) so far, was able to pound laps in the recognizable papaya colors last Friday at IMS, which marked his first outing with the team since being announced as part of the 2025 roster in early July. But after spending the last three full-time seasons with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, there was quite a bit to get acclimated to.

Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

“The car has more natural pace than what I was previously used to,” he said.

“I think the balance has some familiarity to, again, what I’m used to. I didn’t really expect the biggest difference to be in handling. So, I think a lot of it was kind of what I expected, which is a good thing. But it was good to get to work with everybody. That was more of the task for us was to get to feel the car, get to work with everybody, for all of us to learn how to work together and the tools that I have available and the people that are available.”

Perhaps no change was tougher to get adjusted to on his first day, though, than what he wraps his hands around in the cockpit, as he transitions from a Honda machine at RLL to Arrow McLaren’s Chevrolet.

“To me, getting to work with a new steering wheel was probably actually the biggest difference for me,” he said. “That took a little time getting used to, but it was all fine after that.”

Although the team has yet to confirm its engineering lineup for next year, it’s important to note that Chris Lawrence was the one up on the timing stand working with Lundgaard. Lawrence has long been embedded with Arrow McLaren, working extensively with Felix Rosenqvist, and then working with Alexander Rossi for the 2024 season.

While Arrow McLaren is keeping Lundgaard busy in the off-season, traveling around constantly, the test provided a good base line on things to work on for the next few months before racing returns in March 2025.

“I would want to spend a lot of time with Chevy just to make sure that I’m up to date on procedures,” Lundgaard said.

“All these different kinds of things. The basic simple things that I think you wouldn’t really think about, that would typically be muscle memory but is different because it is a different team and a different engine manufacturer. So, the small basic things that make sense that you need to be aware of, to make sure that we nail those.”

As one of 11 drivers and team combinations doing hybrid testing at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Lundgaard completed 88 laps, with a best of 219.566 mph. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou set the fastest mark at 224.342 mph.